NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Germany's automaking titans announced production cutbacks on Tuesday, as the global financial crisis rattled unabated across one of Europe's key industries.

BMW, Daimler AG, General Motors Corp. subsidiary Adam Opel AG and the German unit of Ford Motor Co. all announced production cutbacks in Germany, while GM said its other subsidiaries in Europe were also affected.

Opel said it would stop production entirely at its Eisenach plant for three weeks starting next week.

"We're feeling the effects of the financial crisis," Opel spokesman Andreas Kroemer in Russelsheim said. "People are holding on to their money and not ordering cars."

The company's Bochum plant had already stopped production last week, and Kroemer said the company was expecting to build 40,000 less cars than initially planned this year. Kroemer said the Bochum Opel facility would restart production in a few weeks.

Kroemer said the company's plants in Kaiserslautern and Ruesselsheim, where its new insignia models are built, weren't affected yet.

The company said however that other GM plants in the U.K., Poland, and Spain would be affected by the economic slowdown and that the company was in talks with officials at its plant in Antwerp, Belgium on whether to make reductions to the plant's night shift capacity.

A spokesman told The Associated Press that GM wanted to stop production at U.K. facilities Ellesmere Port and Luton for 10 days each, but it was still unclear how long it would stop production at a Polish plant in Gliwice.

GM's Opel facility in Zaragoza, Spain would stop production for two weeks this month, the spokesman said, while GM unit Saab has said for some time that the company would reduce production of its Trollhaettan, Sweden plant to just one shift.

Munich-based BMW said Tuesday it would send about 20,000 cars originally intended for the U.S. market to Russia or China instead in light of weak North American sales, which meant cutting production by about another 20,000 cars.

Ford's German unit said it would curb production and lay off 204 part-time workers at its Saarlouis plant in western Germany, while the company's Cologne plant in the northwest of the country would continue production without changes.

About 6,500 people work at the Saarlouis plant, where Ford produces the Focus, C-Max and Cougar, according to Ford spokesman Bernd Meyer. He would not say by how many cars the company wants to curb overall production.

Stuttgart-based Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz and Smart cars, said it wanted to keep car production at a low level and that adjustments could affect German facilities and Daimler's Tuscaloosa, Ala., plant. No specific plants or models were outlined.

This past summer, Daimler said it would adjust production this year, stopping production at its largest German production facility, Sindelfingen, earlier than usual on Dec. 17 for the Christmas holidays. Production is to resume in January, but no date has been set yet.

"It's our general goal to keep vehicle levels at a low level," Daimler spokesman Florian Martens said.

The story was different at Porsche, however, also based in Stuttgart. Spokesman Albrecht Bamler said there were no plans to curb production and that at the moment the plants at Stuttgart and Leipzig were running at full capacity. He said the company could react flexibly if necessary.

Porsche produces its 911 model in Stuttgart and its Cayenne in Leipzig.

The situation for the short-term automotive market wasn't looking bright, said car analyst Paul Newton at Global Insight in London.

"Early indications of West European car sales point to a wholesale slump across the major markets during September," Newton wrote in a note to investors last week. He said major European markets were down about 9 percent overall in sales so far, though all figures weren't in yet for September.

"The figures will send a shudder through the entire industry, as the slowdown in showroom traffic seen over the traditionally quieter summer months, worryingly extends into the stronger selling month of September."

Newton said he expects U.K. September car sales down as much as 20 percent, Spain down at least 25 percent, Italy down 12 percent and Germany's September car sales down between 5 and 10 percent.

"The major issue at the moment is the ripple effect of the financial markets on car sales," Newton said, adding that in the U.S., there was "appalling situation" for car sales because of those effects. "We're expecting it (in Europe) too."